Tweet

Timour Azhari

10 Sep, 5 tweets, 2 min read

#Breaking: #Lebanon PM Najib Mikati officially heads new 24-member govt.

Main ministries headed by insiders + a couple reformist faces on 2nd/3rd tier, giving this cabinet the appearance of one that aims to preserve main establishment interests & reform around the edges

Names:

Foreign: Abdallah Bouhabib, fmr ambassador to Washington & fmr World Bank official.

Finance: Youssef Khalil, senior CB official, architect of financial engineering.

Interior: Fmr Judge Bassam al-Mawlawi, close to Hariri's Future Movement.

Energy: Walid Fayyad, close to President Aoun.

Justice: Former Judge Henry Khuri, Former State Shura Council head close to FPM.

Health: Firass Abiad, director of Rafik Hariri University Hospital

Environment: Nasser Yassin, AUB professor of policy & planning.

Education: Abbas Halabi, (Joumblatt)

Public Works: Ali Hamiya (Hezb/Amal)

Displaced: Issam Sharafeddine, (Arslan)

Agriculture: Abbas Hajj Hasan (Hezb/Amal)

Culture: Mohammad Wissam Mortada (Hezb/Amal)

Telecoms: Jonny Korm (Marada)

Tourism: Walid Nassar (FPM + Mikati)

Unclear on affiliations here:

Defense: Maurice Slim

Economy: Amin Salam

Youth and Sports: George Kalas

Information: George Kordahi

State for Admin Reform : Najla Riachi

Social Affairs: Hector Hajjar

Deputy PM: Saade Shami

Labor: Mustafa Bayram

Industry: George Debakian

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More from @timourazhari

Timour Azhari

@timourazhari

5 Aug

After the #BeirutBlast, reconstruction was largely left to volunteers/NGOs amid heartwarming community spirit.

But the near-absence of state coordination has led to a fragmented response that in some areas has deepened inequalities & created tensions

1/9
news.trust.org/item/202108040…

Syrian refugee Waad Hariri was happy to have found a community in Beirut after fleeing Syria's Daraa in 2011.

Soon after the blast, her landlord in Beirut's Karantina accused her of taking aid & pushed her to leave.

"We've lost the community we lived in for 10 years," she said

While her children used to play in Karantina's big public park, the family now lives next to a main road on Beirut's eastern edge.

"When we take them there to see their friends, they cry and refuse to come back," Hariri's husband, Raed, told me.

Read 9 tweets

Timour Azhari

@timourazhari

17 Jun

@TRF_Stories

EXCLUSIVE: #Lebanon banks have swallowed at least $250 million in UN humanitarian aid for Syrian & Palestinian refugees and poor Lebanese since 2019 via bad exchange rates negotiated with UN agencies, a @TRF_Stories investigation finds

news.trust.org/item/202106170…
Thread (1/12)

Most losses stem from a joint WFP/UNHCR/UNICEF program worth $400 million in 2020 for Syrian refugees.

Losses of a third to half were also recorded in:
-WFP assistance for 105,000 poor Lebanese
-UNRWA assistance for Palestinian refugees - even amid a severe funding crisis.

2/12

These massive losses took place at a time when
- Roughly half of Lebanese are poor
- More than 2/3 of Palestinian refugees are poor
- Nine out of 10 Syrian refugees are extremely poor

UN orgs essentially handed banks millions of $ while many people struggled to buy food.

3/12

Read 12 tweets

Timour Azhari

@timourazhari

6 Feb

"We have to say it as it is: what we found here was a second Beirut bomb."

That's from the director of the German company tasked with removing *1000 tons* of explosive chemicals dumped in 52 containers at Beirut's port for decades.
n-tv.de/panorama/Beiru…

This means we now know of almost 4,000 tons of hazardous, explosive materials being stored at Beirut's port over extended periods of time. In the heart of the city. What an absolute criminal disaster.

Note: Lebanon has a history of being a place for dumping chemical waste. The Lebanese Forces militia were paid to dump 1000s of tons of chemical waste during the civil war, according to GreenPeace + leaked Army report

Authorities then covered it up

Read:
fouadhamdan.org/cms/upload/pdf…

Read 4 tweets

Timour Azhari

@timourazhari

16 Feb 20

One year ago, George Zreik self-immolated over his daughter’s school fees.

“The day before he died, Zreik drove his taxi to the school where his daughter was enrolled, walked onto the grass of its courtyard, poured fuel on his body & set himself ablaze”
dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-N…

Full text thread.

Read 6 tweets

Timour Azhari

@timourazhari

5 Jan 20

#Hezbollah leader Nasrallah begins speech on the killings of #Qassem_Suleimani and #AbuMahdialMuhandis.

Says Jan 2nd 2020 (day of the assasination) is the beginning of a new phase in the entire region.

Nasrallah says Soleimani got what he sought on that night: Martyrdom.

#Nasrallah says both Soleimani and Abu Mahdi confided in him that they wanted to be martyred.

Abu Mahdi did so at a meeting in #Beirut’s southern suburbs 2 months ago when they “spoke for hours.”

Nasrallah congratulates then both.

Read 18 tweets

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